


A Pirate's Life for Me

by Not_An_Alien



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gay Shiro (Voltron), Her name is Blue, Implied Sexual Content, Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Adoptive Siblings, Lance has a parrot, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-15 15:59:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17531795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Not_An_Alien/pseuds/Not_An_Alien
Summary: "This is all your fault," Lance grumbled."Say whatever you have to say to make yourself feel better," Keith growled, "after getting us stuck on a desolate island!""I'll stick you in an island!" Lance countered."What?" Keith questioned. "That doesn't make any sense!""I know what I said!" Lance barked.Or: The Pirate AU that literally nobody asked for, but I wrote anyway because there aren't enough Pirate AUs and I decided to take matters into my own tiny hands.





	1. Uno

"This is all your fault," Lance grumbled.

"Say whatever you have to say to make yourself feel better," Keith growled, "after getting us stuck on a desolate island!"

"I'll stick you in an island!" Lance countered.

"What?" Keith questioned. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"I know what I said!" Lance barked.

~

Lance was a pirate.

He had found his way onto the sea when he was fourteen. Lance's family was poor. His father had passed roughly three months before and his mother was struggling with finding a job. Even his older siblings were unable to get enough money to pay rent of their tenement, much less get enough food.

So Lance took matters into his own hands. At only fourteen, he signed up for a smaller pirate ship and was welcomed aboard. He managed to get more money than the rest of his family, but it still wasn't enough. So he made sure he rose throughout the ranks of his boat as much as he could until a storm crashed one night on the sea when he was sixteen. The boat sank, and Lance was the only survivor. Luckily, he was only on the sea, floating on a wooden plank, for roughly two days before another boat found him.

Voltron.

He was welcomed on board by the boat's captain, Captain Shirogane, and offered a place within their ranks as a gunner. There were only four other members of the crew at them time (somehow they were enough to keep the boat going) so Lance figured he would get a bigger share. Seeing an opportunity to rise up and make more money for his family, Lance accepted.

Lance soon heard the story of Voltron from the boatswain, Hunk. Apparently, the boat had been built long ago by the king of pirates, Alfor Altea, with the help of his friend, Zarkon Daibazal. The ship was built with an ancient spell from the lost city of Oriande, granting it the ability to still float as long as there was a strong-willed crew manning the boat no matter the size. This explained the small crew of Voltron. Being a humble man, Alfor had let his friend captain the ship while he took the position of first mate so that they could share the glory. However, Zarkon soon became greedy and power hungry and wished to have Voltron all to himself. So one night, he betrayed Alfor and murdered the other three members of Voltron's crew. Shortly after this, Voltron sunk, and Zarkon went down with his ship, never to be seen again. Voltron was missing for many years until it was recently rediscovered unharmed by Alfor's only child, Allura who became the king of pirates soon after her father's death. She brought it to the mainland and gave it to her old friend, Takashi Shirogane, who wasted no time finding a strong-willed crew of his own and heading out to sea.

Lance didn't know how much of that story was true, but Hunk seemed to believe it, and the boat wasn't at the bottom of the Caribbean, despite being crewed by only five people, so he went with it.

Lance got along well with the rest of the crew. Hunk quickly became his best friend. The big guy was probably the nicest pirate Lance had ever met. He always made sure everyone on the ship was taking care of themselves and somehow managed to bake cookies for them on a boat (Lance was pretty sure there was a secret kitchen somewhere on the boat, but he had yet to find it). 

Pidge, a petite girl who liked to hang out in the crow's nest, earning her nickname of Pidgeon from Lance, was like a little sister to him, despite being the sassiest fourteen-year-old he had ever seen in his life. Being honest, Lance had thought that Pidge was a boy at first. For one, she was wearing loose-fitted pants that only went halfway down her shins and held up by a piece of rope she'd tied around her tiny waist, which wasn't a common item of clothing that girls would wear. However, most girls weren't pirates. Apparently, Pidge had joined Voltron in search of her father and brother who had been kidnapped by pirates a year earlier. Lance really hoped she was able to find them. She deserved to have her family.

Lance was a bit afraid of Captain Shirogane at first. Most pirates had at least a little bit of fear of their captains so it was only natural. However, despite the fact that Captain Shirogane appeared to be a calm, collected, and strict leader (Pidge was starting to get annoyed by the fact that she wasn't allowed to curse (around the captain anyway)), Lance soon discovered that the man was a huge dork. Sure, he had the most patience out of everyone on the team, but this one time they were on an island interacting with the locals when the Captain practically lost his shit with this one man named Slav. It was hilarious and the rest of the crew made fun of him for it for the next week. There were still a few lingering jokes going around. Lance also discovered that Captain Shirogane was a complete lovesick puppy when it came to his boyfriend, Adam. The man couldn't bring him up without turning into a blushing mess. It was cute. Lance shipped it.

Then there was the first mate, Keith. Keith was Captain Shirogane's younger brother, but he was a dick. At least to Lance anyway. Pidge and Hunk both held Keith in high opinion, but Lance did not. He didn't see what was special about the cutlass-wielding hothead that always closed himself off from the rest of the crew. He was always training with his cutlass, too. Lance didn't know why. He was already pretty much a master, and yet he kept training. Every time Lance asked him about it, the first mate would give some half-assed excuse about how they always had to be prepared for an attack. So Lance eventually gave up. Keith was also always trying to one-up Lance. Every time Lance would do something, Keith would do it better. Lance was pretty damn sure that the guy was doing it just to make him look bad. So in conclusion, Keith was terrible. Plus, he had a mullet, and mullets were terrible.

As Lance had predicted, he did make more money working with Voltron than he had with his first crew. The captain was kind enough to allow Lance to visit his family in Cuba every once in a while so that he could give them the money he earned. Thanks to him, his family thrived. They were able to buy enough food and eventually move into a slightly better house than the one they'd been living in before. His niece and nephew were also able to go to school, which Lance was very thankful for. Those two deserved a bright future, and thanks to him, they had the chance to get it.

It had been seven years since Lance joined the crew. Not much had changed except for the fact that Captain Shirogane's hair had turned completely white despite him being thirty-one, Keith's hair now fell halfway down his back instead of to his shoulders, and Lance got a parrot. His parrot, Blue, had followed him one day while the crew was searching for an apparent lost treasure on the coast of Venezuela. They'd only found a few gold pieces and a single earring with a dark blue tear-shaped sapphire hanging on it that Lance claimed as his own and wore in his right ear, but Lance got a parrot so it hadn't been a total loss.

They were currently approaching an island roughly six miles south of the coast of Jamaica. According to a map Pidge had found at the last place they'd struck gold, there should be something towards the center of this one.

They left the boat about five hundred feet off the beach and took a rowboat to shore. The hot sun was beating down on them as they all followed Hunk and Pidge, who were both holding the map, as they navigated the surprisingly large, jungle-y island. They'd been walking for an hour when Captain Shirogane called everyone to a rest. All five of them found a place to sit and handed around a container filled with fresh water that wasn't nearly as cool as it had been when they left the boat.

Bored, Lance decided to poke at Keith, who was sitting on a rock five feet away. "This too much for you, Keith?" He asked. The shorter man looked over to where Lance was. "Think you're going to have to give up?"

Keith scowled. "I've run twice as far in hotter weather," he accepted the water container from Pidge who was seated on his other side. "This is nothing." He made a show of taking a long, lingering drink from the container before handing it to Lance, who reluctantly took it and drank a bit himself.

Eventually, the captain had them get back up and keep moving. Three more hours were spent walking towards the heart of the island. Lance used that time to climb random trees, mess with the pistol he always carried with him, and of course, poke more fun at Keith.

Finally, the crew reached a dark, ominous cave that Pidge and Hunk confirmed was what they were looking for. The crew slowly advanced into the cave and walked through the long, wet tunnel. Lance admired the carvings etched into the walls of the tunnel. Most were of some sort of mystical lion that he guessed had to be some kind of god once worshipped by natives long ago.

Eventually, the tunnel opened up into a wide cavern. All around, there were pieces of gold, artifacts, jewelry, and weapons that immediately had the entire crew going mad. Lance saw Hunk freaking out over some old-fashioned tool he found, Pidge immediately ran to a large pile of scrolls and opened one up, Keith pulled a large gem encrusted sword from the pile and held it up to admire it, and Lance was having a field day collecting as much gold and jewelry as he could for his family. Captain Shirogane, on the other hand, wandered towards the center of the room where a single small chest was sitting isolated from the rest of the treasures.

Opening the lid, his eyes widened, and he turned to the rest of the crew. "Check this out," he said.

Lance looked up from his gold. "Is it an engagement ring for Adam?" He asked.

The captain blushed. "N-no," he stuttered. "Just come here."

Lance shrugged and walked over to where his captain was standing and Keith and Hunk had joined him to look over his shoulder at the contents of the chest. Inside, there were four leather bracelets and a necklace. Each one had a marble pendant of what appeared to be a lion, each with a different color. "What's so special about these?" Lance wandered aloud.

"I think I know," Pidge interrupted his thoughts. She was standing twenty feet away with a scroll in her hands. "According to this, the natives of this island used to worship five great lions. They gifted the bracelets and necklace to the five bravest warriors who protected their village until many years ago when they were forced to hide them all and flee the island forever."

"So it's not about the riches of these as the historical value?" Keith asked.

Pidge nodded in confirmation. "Yes, but they were also rumored to make the holders stronger."

"We should take them," Lance suggested, eyeing the blue lion.

"There are five of us," Hunk pointed out.

Captain Shirogane shrugged. "Alright crew, dig in."

Lance immediately took the blue one for himself, holding it up to admire the tiny marble lion. He watched as Hunk put the yellow one on his left wrist, and Pidge did the same with the green one. In order to be special, Lance slid his bracelet on his right wrist, adding it to the three rings that already decorated that hand and the two that decorated his left. Looking over, he saw that Keith had put the red lion on his right wrist as well.

Copycat.

Captain Shirogane slowly pulled the black lion out of the chest, letting the tiny lion swing around a bit as he put the chest back on the ground. Taking his captain's hat off for a second, he slid the necklace onto his neck.

"We all match now, you guys," Lance commented.

"That you do," a voice sounded from the entrance of the cavern. All five members of Voltron's crew turned to see a man who was definitely a pirate captain judging by his giant hat standing only thirty feet away along with a crowd of other pirates.

"Captain Daibazal," Captain Shirogane said.

The man chuckled. "Don't be so formal, Champion. Call me Lotor."

"We found this place before you, Lotor. Be gone," Keith commanded. Despite how casual and blunt Keith typically was, he could sometimes be terrifying.

"As much as I would love to do that," Lotor said smoothly, taking a few steps closer to the crew. "I have my entire crew here with me, and you only have five people, so I think we'll be taking it from here." As if on command, the pirates standing behind Lotor rushed forward to attack.

Voltron's crew wasted no timing pulling out their respective weapons in order to defend themselves. Lance pulled out his pistol and shot three right off the bat, watching as Keith immediately ran straight into the fray, cutlass in hand. "Idiot," Lance cursed as he shot another in the chest.

Voltron fought hard, but facts were facts, and Voltron was incredibly outnumbered. Lance shot down enemy after enemy until his pistol had run out of bullets. "I should have brought extra ammo," Lance growled as he pulled a dagger from his belt that he typically used to cut rope with and stabbed the nearest enemy in the chest. From a distance, he could see Keith fighting blade to blade with Lotor's first mate, Acxa. She was a skilled fighter, but Lance took pride in the fact that Keith clearly had the advantage.

Voltron kept on fighting. Lance was struggling a bit more because he was using a dagger now instead of his usual pistol, but he was doing alright. All the damage that had been done to his beautiful face was a slice through his eyebrow that just barely missed his left eye and would likely end up needed stitches, but on the bright side, he would have a wicked cool scar that would bring in all the girls and guys.

Eventually, the fighting died down and the crew of Voltron stood together to face Lotor and the four surviving members of his crew. Lance noticed that one of them was his first mate, Acxa.

"Impossible..." Lotor whispered.

"You've lost, Lotor," Captain Shirogane said. "Leave now before we take out the rest of your crew as well."

Lotor scowled at the captain. "You'll regret this," he cursed, then turned and left with his crew members right behind him. However, as he was leaving, Lance noticed a folded up piece of parchment fall out of his back pocket.

Once Lotor was gone, Lance rushed forward to swipe the parchment off the ground and unfold it. "It's a map," he commented.

"Where does it lead to?" He heard Hunk ask.

Lance smirked and turned around to face his crew. "Costa Rica."

~

It would take about a month to reach Costa Rica. They had decided to take it slow after the tough battle they went through. Surprisingly, other than Lance's cut, the only other person who got hurt was Keith, who had a large cut on his right cheek that would definitely scar without a doubt.

The two were sitting below deck a week in when Lance noticed Keith fiddling with something around his neck. He could see the dark silver chain, but he wasn't sure what was on the end of it.

"What's that?" Lance asked, and the older man started.

"Nothing," he yelped and stuffed the necklace back into his dark grey shirt.

"Didn't look like nothing," Lance commented, moving to sit in the chair next to Keith.

"Well, it's not important so you don't have to worry about it," Keith spat.

"Okay then I won't," Lance said and the two fell silent again.

~

"Hey, Pidgeon," Lance greeted the petite girl as he climbed into the crow's nest.

Pidge sighed and put down her telescope. "What do you want, Lance?"

Lance shrugged. "I just wanted to check out the view."

"The view," Blue copied from where she was seated on Lance's shoulder.

"Well, there isn't really anything but water right now, but," she handed her telescope to Lance, "you can go ahead and take a look."

Lance grinned and took the telescope, flipping down his eye patch over his left eye and using his right to look through. Sure enough, there was nothing in sight but water. However, that wasn't what Lance was focusing on. "Those are some nasty looking clouds," he commented, staring into the distance.

"Really?" Pidge asked. "Let me see." She took the telescope out of Lance's hands, and he flipped his eye patch back up. "You're right, Lance," she said, looking through the telescope in the same direction Lance had been. "I think we're gonna get a storm tonight."

~

Just as Pidge had said, they were dealing with a storm that night. The waves were rough as the rain poured down so it was all hands on deck to keep the boat from sinking. Strong willpower isn't always enough to keep the boat floating when it came to storms.

All four members of the crew were running across deck as Captain Shirogane manned the wheel. Lance's job was to tie up the cannons. The ship was violently rocking back and forth so everyone had to watch their step and be careful as they worked.

Lance was trying one of the cannons to the side of the ship when he heard a sharp squawk sound from within one of the boxes nearby. Forgetting the cannon, he rushed over to the box and opened the lid to find Blue sitting inside all wet. She'd likely fallen in at one point.

"Get out of there you crazy bird!" Lance shouted over the rain and with a squawk of protest, Blue begrudgingly made her way out of the box and landed on his shoulder, not hesitating to nuzzle her head into his neck.

"Keith!" Captain Shirogane called out from the wheel. "Pull up the sail!" Keith nodded and ran to the side of the ship, but as he got there, a large wave hit the side of the boat and Keith was thrown over the rail.

"Keith!" Lance called out. He rushed over to the side of the boat to see Keith hanging onto the railing with one hand. He reached out his arm and Keith used his free hand to reach up and grab it. The boys had managed to get Keith halfway up when another wave hit and both boys were thrown overboard. Fortunately, Lance managed to grab the railing with his left hand while still hanging onto Keith with his right. Lance was trying to think of a way to pull them both up when Keith's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"You have to let go of me, Lance!" Keith shouted.

Lance looked down at him like he was crazy. "Are you serious?" He shouted back. "There is no way I'm just going to let you die!" Blue was no longer on his shoulder. She had likely fled at the first sign of danger.

"You won't be able to get back onto the ship unless you have both hands!" Keith argued.

"Pidge and Hunk will help us back up," Lance insisted. "Just hold on."

At that moment, the very same cannon Lance hadn't tied to the side of the ship rolled across the deck and slammed into the side, right on Lance's left hand. With a scream, Lance let go of the railing, the two pirates went crashing into the roaring waves of the Caribbean, and everything went black.


	2. Dos

Lance woke up on a beach again.

No, this wasn't the first time.

However, this was the first time he woke up on a beach without a sign of Voltron in sight.

Lance sat up, rubbing his aching head and looking around. There wasn't much. Just some sand, a jungle-forest area behind him, a crab, and...

Where the hell was Keith?

The panic set in as Lance recalled what had happened the night before. He and Keith had fallen off the side of the boat and he must have washed up on the shore, but where the hell was Keith?

Did he drown? Did an animal come out and eat him? We're there cannibals on this island that took Keith, but somehow hadn't noticed Lance? Had Lance failed in saving the first mate? Oh my god, Captain Shirogane was going to kill him when he found out-

Oh, there he is.

Lance spotted Keith laying unconscious thirty feet away as the waves splashed at his feet. Thank. God.

Lance pushed himself to his feet and stumbled over to the unconscious man, leaning down to check for injuries. He looked unharmed, just unconscious. The scar on his right cheek was still fairly fresh, but there thankfully wasn't anything wrong with it. Lance chuckled when he noticed that the dark red bandana thing that Keith always had tied around his head as a hat had somehow miraculously stayed on the man's head.

Grabbing Keith from under the pits, Lance pulled Keith inland to keep him away from the salty water. When he was finished, he took a seat next to the unconscious first mate and sighed. "Stupid mullet," he muttered.

"Squawk! Stupid mullet!" A loud squawk made Lance jump and he turned to see none other than Blue the parrot sitting in the sand next to him.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Lance asked the parrot as it spread its cobalt wings and flew onto his shoulder.

"Voltron!" Blue exclaimed.

"Wow, really?" Lance deadpanned.

"Really!" Blue copied, and Lance chuckled.

"Whatever, you stupid bird." Lance noticed a container hanging on Keith's belt. Carefully, he reached over and pulled it off. Opening the lid, he was relieved to find that there was some water in it. Without hesitation, he poured some of the water in his mouth-- only to spit it out again. "Stupid sea water!" Lance cursed as he dumped the rest of the water into the sand, still spitting out lingering salt. "I'm going to need to find fresh water before Keith wakes up," he said to himself as he pushed himself up in the sand.

There was a creek fifty feet into the woods. Lance wasted no time before he filled Keith's container with some of the water and drinking some himself before refilling it and making his way back to the beach.

As soon as Lance made it back to the sandy beach, Blue squawked right next to his ear and flew over to land on Keith's shoulder as he sat up in the sand. "Do it right in my ear, won't you?" Lance muttered as he approached a confused Keith who had yet to notice the other man coming up behind him. "Morning, sunshine," Lance said as he plopped down into the sand next to Keith and holding out the container of water. "I got some water."

"Thanks," Keith mumbled, taking the container and drinking some of the water. "How did we-"

"I think the storm may have washed us up here or something," Lance answered. "I just woke up about twenty minutes ago."

"Any sign of the rest of the crew?" Keith asked, taking another sip of water.

"Nope," Lance answered plainly, looking out across the water. There hadn't even been a speck on the horizon since Lance woke up.

"This is all your fault," Lance grumbled.

"Say whatever you have to say to make yourself feel better," Keith growled, "after getting us stuck on a desolate island!"

"I'll stick you in an island!" Lance countered.

"What?" Keith questioned. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"I know what I said!" Lance barked.

Keith sighed in defeat and lowered his voice again. "How's your hand?"

Lance looked at him. "My what?"

"Your hand," Keith repeated. "You know, the one that had a cannon slam into it?"

"Oh," Lance said dumbly. "Yeah, um, I haven't noticed anything wrong with it." To prove it, he held up his left hand and shook it around a bit.

"That's impossible," Keith commented. He took Lance's hand out of the air, ignoring when Lance flinched from the contact, and looked it over. "You should at least have a broken finger. How are you fine?"

Lance snickered. "Maybe it was the lions." He held up his right wrist to show where his blue marble lion was hanging around.

"You know that's just a legend, right, Lance?" Keith asked, dropping Lance's hand.

"Just as the ship piloted by five is a legend?" Lance questioned. "Or two men falling off their ship in the middle of the sea and miraculously washing up fine miles away?" 

Keith still looked skeptical. "I guess you might be right, but that doesn't change the fact that we could still die on this island. You should have just let me go, then you could be on the ship instead of here."

"Hate me that much?" Lance asked smugly.

"I don't hate you, Lance," Keith said, looking back out over the horizon.

Lance looked incredibly confused. "You don't?"

Keith shook his head. "I never did. You were just annoying at times, but I could tell that you were a very valuable member of the crew." He paused for a moment in thought. "You should have just let me die. I know you don't like me."

Lance was shocked. Keith had barely said anything, but at the same time, he said so much. It was one thing to find out that your rival didn't hate you. It was another thing to find out that he would rather die than see you stuck on a deserted island. With a deep breath, he decided to confess something himself. "Even if I hated you more than anything in the world, I couldn't have brought myself to let you die. You're the first mate of our ship and a hell of a good fighter. You're just as important, if not more, than I am."

The two were silent for a few moments as Keith absorbed Lance's words, still refusing to make eye contact. Eventually, Keith pushed himself up from the sand and turned towards the forest. "We should probably find some food."

"Yeah," Lance managed, awkwardly pushing himself up. "We should."

The two explored the forest for what seemed like years, constantly bickering back and forth as they made their way through the wild branches and vines, but by the time the sun was starting to set and the pirates returned to the beach with some wood for a fire, they hadn't even managed to find a crumb of food.

"We could always eat that dumb parrot of yours," Keith commented, throwing his armful of wood into the pile.

Lance looked offended. "She is not dumb. She is very intelligent in her own unique way."

They eventually got a fire going just enough that they wouldn't freeze to death. The two lied down next to each other as they gazed up at the stars, unable to get any sleep.

Eventually, Lance broke the silence. "Do you think the crew will ever find us?"

Keith thought for a moment before answering. "I don't think they'll find us here."

"Oh, well-" Lance started.

"But I think that if we manage to get off this island, we may be able to find them ourselves," Keith finished.

"Do you..." Lance asked, "do you have a plan for getting off this island?"

Keith shrugged. "Not exactly. Maybe we could create a giant fire to get the attention of a passing ship or something."

"We could make a raft," Lance suggested.

"No," Keith said. "It's too risky. We don't know where we are and the ocean could easily take us down."

"Ok then, I guess we'll wait," Lance concluded.

~

They were gone.

Just one storm, just one slip up, and Lance McClain and Keith Kogane were gone.

Shiro sat at his desk with his head in his hands wondering what they'd do without the two of them. They might have to eventually replace them in order to keep Voltron going, but for now, he had to tell Lance's family what happened, so they could all mourn the loss of two great men.

Shiro sighed and walked onto the deck where Pidge and Hunk were waiting for them. As if on cue, Pidge asked, "Where to, Captain?"

"Cuba," Shiro answered. "Varadero. We need to pay a visit to the McClains."

~

The next morning, Lance found himself waking up on a beach again. Only this time, there was no Keith in sight. Lance sat up and looked around for a minute. "Keith?" He called out only to receive no reply.

"Keith?" Lance heard a voice echo, and he turned to find Blue sitting in the sand a few feet away from him.

"Hey, there, beautiful," he greeted the bird. "Do you know where Keith went?"

"Keith?" Blue asked.

"Yes," Lance nodded. "Where did he go?"

"He go," Blue repeated, "look for food." 

Lance hadn't said that last bit so he figured Keith must have said that sometime this morning. "Alright, thanks, Blue."

"Thanks, Blue," he heard Blue squawk as he got up and headed into the forest, Blue flying up from behind him to perch on his shoulder.

He found Keith looking around fifty feet away from the beach. He had removed the bandana from his head and tied it around his wrist, occasionally using it to wipe away sweat from his forehead.

"Morning, sunshine," Lance greeted as he approached Keith.

Keith looked at him with a deadpan expression. "You used that line yesterday."

"Nonsense," Lance dismissed. "Have you found anything?"

"Not really," Keith answered. "There doesn't seem to be much on this island. Just a bunch of trees and two starving pirates with a parrot."

"Well, aren't you optimistic?" Lance said. "Come on, I'll help you look."

An hour later, Lance spotted something out of the corner of his eye. "Woah, man. Did you see that?" Keith looked confused, looking around the area for whatever it was that Lance could have seen. All of a sudden, a small, furry weasel-looking thing scurried out of the bushes and started running through the clearing in the opposite direction of Keith and Lance. Lance quickly pulled his pistol from his belt and started aiming. "I got this," he told Keith, but before he could fire a single bullet, a knife flew from somewhere behind him and pinned the now dead animal to the ground. "Keith!" Lance complained. "I had that!"

"Well now we have brunch," Keith commented, walking over and picking up his kill, removing his knife from its back. "What the hell is this thing?"

"I think it's a mongoose," Lance said, looking over the dead creature.

"I thought they lived on the other side of the world or something," Keith said.

"They aren't native, but they do live in Jamaica. We must be somewhere nearby," Lance concluded.

"How do you know so much about this rodent?" Keith asked.

"First, it's not a rodent. It's just an animal. Second, I love animals, so naturally, I have done my research on them," Lance answered. "Now let's go cook this shit."

The two made their way back to the beach where they set up a smaller fire to cook the mongoose after Keith used his knife to skin the creature and Lance had cleaned it. Afterwards, the two men wolfed down the little meat they'd gotten from their one and only kill and relaxed on the beach some, watching the waves crash onto the shore fifteen feet away.

"Can I braid your hair?" Lance asked suddenly.

Keith looked over at him. "Can you what?"

"Braid your hair," Lance finished.

"Why?" Keith questioned.

Lance shrugged. "Well, I used to braid my older sister's hair and it always calmed me down so..." He trailed off, figuring that Keith would probably say no anyway.

Keith sighed. "Alright. Go ahead."

Lance looked down at the shorter man. "Really?"

"Yeah," Keith confirmed. "Just do it before I change my mind."

"Okay then," Lance said, then moved so he could sit down behind Keith. He removed the man's bandana from his head because he'd chosen five minutes ago to put it back on there and gently sat it down in the cool sand next to them and got to work. He had his hands in Keith's hair for no more than ten seconds before he asked, "Okay, how the hell do you manage to keep your hair so soft?"

"Magic," Keith replied plainly.

Lance scoffed. "Fine then. Don't tell me your mystical secret."

Keith chuckled and allowed Lance to continue working on his hair.

"If you don't mind me asking," Lance said when he was halfway through braiding Keith's hair, "why did you become a pirate?"

Keith sighed and looked out across the water. "Well, I was an orphan. My dad died when I was six and I never knew my mom. When you're an orphan, you don't have much," he shrugged. "That's just how it goes. I'd known Shiro for a couple years at that point. He was always kind to me. He brought me food when I was starving and sometimes supplied me with clothes when I got too big for my last ones. He was like a brother to me. He still is. Then, one day, he asked if I wanted to join his pirate crew as the first mate. Up until that point, I hadn't even known that he was a pirate, so the request surprised me, but I accepted anyway. I found refuge through being a pirate. Sure, I was living a dishonest life, but at least I wasn't living alone and abused on the streets. I had fun, honestly, being a pirate. It was like a breath of fresh air after suffocating for years. Now here I am, over eight years later, still sailing the seas like I had back then."

"Wow," Lance said, after making sure that Keith was done talking. "I never really thought of it that way."

Keith chuckled. "So how'd you end up as a pirate?"

"Well," Lance answered, "my family was always really poor. Even more so after my father passed. We barely made any money and there were a lot of us to feed. I've always had a big family. So, in order to make more money for them, I joined a crew of pirates. It was a few more years before I ended up with Voltron, but with the money I made as a pirate, I've been able to save my family in a way. They're doing a lot better now than they had been back then."

Keith hummed in consideration. "Can you tell me about them?"

Lance smirked. "Sure. So, there's my mother, Rosa. She is the sweetest and scariest lady you will ever meet. I'm pretty sure I got in trouble with her the most and at this point, I'm ninety-nine percent sure she'd agree." Keith chuckled. "Then, there's my oldest brother, Luis. He has a wife, Lisa, and two kids, Sylvio and Nadia. I'm just telling you now that you will never meet better kids in your life, so don't let your expectations be raised by them. Then there's my older brother, Marco. He may or may not have placed the blame for most of his childhood antics on me, and I may or may not be ready to strike vengeance on him for that. After Marco is my older sister, Veronica. She's currently courting a woman, but she refuses to tell us her name. Marco and I suspect that she's courting a pirate from another ship and that's why she won't tell us, but Luis and my older twin sister, Rachel, disagree. Speaking of Rachel, you might want to look out for her. She may seem nice at first, but if you cross any one of us, she will hunt you down and kill you."

"I'll keep that in mind," Keith commented.

Lance chuckled, fishing a small piece of red twine out of his pocket to tie Keith's braid. "Seriously though, I love my family more than anything in this cruel world. I'm so lucky to have them."

"They're lucky to have you, too, Lance," Keith said, not even realizing that he had spoken.

Lance looked at the shorter man in surprise. "You really think so."

Keith turned to look at Lance with a gentle and reassuring smile. "I know so."

The two stared into each other's eyes for a few moments before Lance cleared his throat and spoke up. "Well, there's your fishtail braid."

Keith's hand immediately shot up to feel the intricate braid. "Fishtail? Really?"

Lance shrugged. "Of course I did a fishtail braid. We're pirates."

"Fish!" Blue squawked.

"Fish," Keith repeated to himself. "We could catch fish!"

Lance stared down at him in shock. "Why the hell didn't I think of that?"

The two boys wasted no time rolling up their pants and wading into the water in search of fish. An hour later, they managed to find seven, but only caught three, which was fine by them. They had dinner now. They repeated the same process that they had earlier with the mongoose to cook the fish and they dug in, devouring all three fish within minutes.

"Seriously, how did I not think of that earlier?" Lance asked.

Keith shrugged. "Maybe the author forgot fish were a thing."

"What?" Lance asked.

"Nothing," Keith said. The two men were silent as they finished the last of the fish, the sun having already set in the distance.

Lance was about to call it a day and go to sleep when Keith suddenly spoke.

"A locket," Keith said suddenly.

"What?" Lance asked.

"You asked what I had around my neck back on the boat," Keith recalled. "It's a locket." He pulled the chain back out from his shirt to show it to Lance. The locket itself was the same silver color as the chain and was in the shape of an oval. He noticed a small red gem he figured was a ruby was implanted in the top of the oval. "I found it on my first treasure hunt off the coast of Puerto Rico. I don't know why I was drawn to it. It didn't look like it was worth nearly as much as everything else that was there, but I took it with me anyway."

"Can I see it?" Lance asked suddenly, and Keith hesitated, but nodded and slipped the chain off, handing it to Lance. Lance admired the intricate design that had been carved into the front of the locket before he opened it up and looked inside. Inside the locket, was a picture taken at least twenty years ago of a small girl with dark curly hair giving the camera the biggest toothy smile she could possibly give it. On the other side of the locket was the same girl, but this time she was seated with two women. One looked a lot like the little girl, likely coming from the same island she had, but the other woman was taller with light hair and skin much paler than the other two, and Lance had to guess that she was from somewhere very different. All three had large smiles on their faces and clearly looked as if they were a happy and loving family. "Do you know who these people are?" He asked Keith.

Keith shook his head. "I have no idea, but wherever they are, I hope they're happy."

Lance smiled to himself, gazing at the pictures on last time before closing the locket and returning it to Keith. "Me too." A couple minutes of silence passed before Lance spoke again. "You know, I've always admired you."

Keith looked up at him. "You have?"

Lance nodded. "You were always a better pirate than I was. You were the first mate after all. You're a great fighter. I would always watch you when you fought, even if I didn't realize that I was. You're really strong. You also look out for the rest of the crew. Even if you do it in your very weird, Keith-y way. I guess I looked up to you for that. I may have been a bit jealous of you, and poked fun at you whenever I could, but I'm pretty sure that's because in a way, I wanted to be you."

"I was the same way about you," Keith confessed.

Lance snorted. "Sure."

"I really was," Keith insisted. "You're really good with people. You can easily charm anyone into doing practically anything. In case you haven't noticed, I need to work on my people skills, but yours always came naturally to you. I envied that. At the same time though, you looked out for the crew in your way, too. You keep us all together, even when we're apart. You are the heart of Voltron, Lance. I think that's one of the reasons I fell for you." Keith kept going, spilling more and more words without even realizing it.

Lance was lost after the sentence that followed him being the heart of Voltron. "I'm sorry," he interrupted. "What was that?"

Keith looked over at him, his mouth slamming shut. "What was what?"

"You said you fell for me?" Lance asked.

Keith still looked oblivious to what Lance was talking about. "Too soon?"

"No, no, that's not it," Lance said quickly. "I mean, you pretty much just confessed to me without even realizing it or something." Lance's face was slowly turning red as he said this. Keith's face turned redder than his bandana even faster after he realized what he had said.

"Oh," Keith said weakly. "Well, I, uh, I guess I, uh, I do like you. I never really realized it until now though so... I mean, it's fine if you don't like me back. I just figured that I should probably clarify that for you, and, uh-"

Lance suddenly cut Keith off by slamming their lips together for the sloppiest kiss Lance had had in his life. When they pulled away, Lance chuckled. "I like you, too, Mullet, even if I didn't realize it until now, either." With a smirk, he leaned in again and pressed his lips against Keith's again before deepening the kiss, Keith kissing back just as hard.

~

Mrs. McClain had immediately screamed in despair when Shiro told her what happened to her son. It was hard, seeing a mother's reaction to the death of her child. Lance's older siblings had cried as well. His niece and nephew were confused as to what was happening and why their mother was trying to keep them out of the room. He would always remember how Marco had slammed his hands on the table before storming upstairs and how Rachel sat there in utter disbelief before running outside. It was hard watching a family falling into despair because they had lost one of their own. Shiro wished he'd never have to do it again.

~

Lance woke up on a beach naked again.

No, this wasn't the first time.

However, this was the first time he woke up on a beach naked with an equally naked Keith sleeping in his arms.

How did he end up here?

Slowly as to not wake Keith, Lance slid out of the other man's grasp and sat up in the sand, immediately looking out over the horizon and freezing when he saw something he didn't think he'd see for a long time.

He turned to where Keith was sleeping in the sand and started shaking at his shoulder. "Keith! Wake up, Keith!"

Keith groaned and rolled over in the sand so he was looking up at the sky. "What is it, Lance?"

Lance pointed out across the water. "Look!"

Rubbing one of his eyes, Keith sat up and looked where Lance was pointing. When he saw what Lance was talking about, his hand dropped into the sand. "Oh my god, Lance. It's a ship!"

The two pirates immediately got to work restarting their fire, throwing wood they had in a pile off to the side into it to get it as high as they could, putting their clothes back on as they did so. They were both jumping up and down, waving their arms and shouting. Even Blue was flying around and squawking louder than usual. They celebrated when they saw the ship change course and head in their direction.

They were getting off the island.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I did pull a Carmen SanDiego to teach y'all about the mongoose.


	3. Tres

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So much to do, so little time to do it.
> 
> Enjoy the short-ish ending to this fic!

"Who are you?" Lance asked once he and Keith had boarded the ship.

There were two people standing in front of them. One was a girl about their age with pale skin and long, blonde hair pulled into twin ponytails. Her face was guarded and she kept a hand on the hilt of her sheathed sword, as if prepared to attack them if they even laid a finger on the other woman in front of them. This woman was far scarier than the first. She was slightly taller with dark skin and pale white hair that fell in curls down her back. Her expression looked as if she was judging the two for their every action. Both women were definitely pirates, judging by their choice of clothing.

"That depends," the white-haired woman asked, "who are you?"

Keith stepped forward. "My name is Keith Kogane, and my companion is Lance McClain. We are crew members of Voltron. Have you heard of it?"

The blonde woman snorted and the white-haired woman shot her a look before turning back to the two men. "I think I'd have heard of the ship my father built and died on."

"Wait," Lance interrupted, "you're Allura. Allura, king of the pirates?"

Allura nodded. "That's right. I'm assuming you know my friend, Shiro?"

Blue squawked from where she was perched on Lance's shoulder. "Friend Shiro!"

"He's my brother," Keith said.

"I remember Shiro mentioning you, Keith," Allura said. "You two are welcome on my ship." She gestured to the blonde woman. "This is my first mate, Romelle. Don't let her threatening gaze fool you. She's a sweetheart." Romelle pouted next to her captain. "Welcome to the Castle of Lions."

~

Allura agreed to take the two men to Cuba, where Lance's family was. They figured that if Voltron thought they were dead, chances were they would tell Lance's family first. 

Until then, they were stuck in the Castle of Lions. It didn't take long for the two to meet Allura's advisor, Coran. He was... enthusiastic to say the least. At least there was never a dull day with the ginger-haired man. Allura was right about Romelle. The violet-eyed woman was actually really nice once you got to know her. The two also noticed that she would get very excited about little things, such as a fish in the water or one of Coran's weird stories. As for Allura, she was definitely a strong captain. However, she was also just a generally cool person to be around. She was very close to Romelle, and Lance speculated that there was more to the two women's relationship than captain and first mate.

Blue loved the Castle of Lions. She would constantly fly around and say hello to all the crew members, who all loved her. Apparently, they had never had any sort of animal on the ship, so this was new for them.

Despite all the excitement of the Castle of Lions, Keith and Lance still made enough time for each other, spending long nights cuddling in the bed they shared, hanging out in the crow's nest during a slow afternoon, and exchanging kisses as they passed each other in the hallways. Lance had never felt the way he felt for Keith towards anyone else before, and he couldn't be happier. As for Keith, even though he wasn't used to this new feeling and the constant affection that came from it, he couldn't say he disliked it. Quite the contrary, actually. For both men, being with the other was... exhilarating, and they were loving every moment of it.

"Excuse me, your majesty," Keith said on the deck of the Castle of Lions one evening a week before they would be arriving in Varadero.

"Allura," Allura corrected him.

"Allura," Keith repeated. "I know you already welcomed us here and that you're a friend of Shiro, but may I ask why you trust us?"

Allura shrugged. "I don't trust you," she said, and Keith felt his heart drop. "However, I know that Shiro trusts you two, and I trust Shiro. Therefore, I am forced to trust you. My question for you is can I trust you?"

"I do believe so," Keith said, but he somehow doubted himself. There was nothing untrustworthy about himself and Lance, but that didn't change the fact that they were pirates. They'd done some pretty bad things. Stealing, injuring, and even killing. They didn't seem like good people, but that didn't mean that they weren't.

~

One night, the day before they would arrive on Varadero beach, Romelle pulled out a barrel of rum she'd found below decks and the crew went crazy. They consumed drink after drink until they were all delightfully tipsy, with the exception of a few select crew members who would continue to keep the ship going. Drunk Coran was definitely interesting, the man kept going around telling stories stranger than the usual ones, and he would also occasionally do what he called a "yelmore call." It was definitely something.

Lance had never thought he'd see Keith get drunk, but there he was watching as the raven-haired man stumbled around with a half-empty glass of rum in his hand. Lance was drunk as well, but not nearly as much as Keith. Lance reached for the glass of rum, but Keith moved it before he could grab it. "Mine," the man protested like a child.

"I think you've had enough, Mister I-don't-get-drunk-easily," Lance said.

Keith scowled. "You're drunk, too."

"Not as much as you, though," Lance argued.

The two men had a short state down before Lance quickly reached out and stole the glass from a protesting Keith's hands and chugged the whole thing on the spot. "No more," he said.

"Why'd you do that?" Keith whined.

"Because you've had enough," Lance answered. "Now come on, you should get to bed."

"Or," Keith said, eyeing Lance suspiciously, "we could have some fun."

Lance stared at his boyfriend in flustered shock. "We could?" The alcohol was definitely getting to both of them.

Keith giggled. "Of course. I want to."

Lance opened his mouth to say something else, but before it came out, Keith whispered into his boyfriend's ear with a smirk, and the other man's face turned red. "Y-yeah," he stuttered. "I can do that."

~

"Wake up, lovebirds. We're approaching Varadero." The two men groaned at the sound of Allura's voice. They pried themselves out of each other's arms and stumbled around their room to get some clothes on.

Lance looked around the messy room and smirked. "Looks like some people had a lot of fun in here last night."

Keith stared at him with a tired expression. "Can you not do that when I have this goddamn hangover?"

"Nope," Lance said innocently, and Keith groaned. "You know you love me."

"I question it sometimes," Keith grumbled as he finished buckling his belt and started walking up the stairs that were right outside their room.

Lance dramatically gasped in disbelief, but his smirk returned when he noticed something about his boyfriend. "Having trouble walking there, buccaneer?"

Keith screamed into his hands as he finished making his way on deck.

~

Varadero beach was just as beautiful as Lance remembered it to be. The water was still a beautiful blue and the golden sand still sparkled in the morning sun. As they were docking, Lance noticed Romelle emerge from below deck, and he approached her with a smirk.

"Hard morning?" He asked, and Romelle gave him the same tired expression Keith had given him that morning.

"You don't know the half of it," she grumbled. "How's your bottom?"

Well, my ass does still hurt a bit from when I fell the other day, but-"

"That's not what I meant," Romelle cut him off and gestured to where Keith was leaning against the railing of the ship. "Next time you two get at it, be a little quieter. Some of us would prefer to keep that image out of our heads." She giggled and patted a blushing Lance's shoulder a few times before leaving him to go talk to Allura.

"Fine then," Lance whispered to yourself. "Run off to your top." He laughed at his own joke then joined Keith in leaning against the railing.

The shorter man looked over to his boyfriend as he approached before turning back to where the coast of Varadero beach stretched out with a gentle smile on his face. "You excited to be back?" Keith asked the Cuban.

Lance looked out across the same view and smiled to himself. "I'm thrilled," he breathed. Before he knew it, the docking was complete and the two were able to step off of the Castle of Lions onto the docks of Varadero, Cuba.

~

The two took their time getting to the McClain household after saying their goodbyes to the crew of the Castle of Lions. They explored the town, buying/stealing small things from shops, practically prancing through the sand by the sea, and stopping for lunch before reaching the house Lance had grown up in.

Nobody answered the door when they knocked, and the door was unlocked, so the two let themselves in and explored the place, looking for any sign of life. After failing to find any, the two sat in the kitchen just casually talking.

"I know we've come here several times so you could give some money to your family, but I've never actually walked around in Varadero," Keith confessed.

Lance raised his eyebrows. "Really? I would have thought that you got bored sitting on the ship at least once."

Keith shook his head. "Nope. I mostly stayed below decks and read."

Lance snorted. "Well, that's boring."

"Boring!" Blue squawked.

"Can you even read?" Keith asked with a smirk.

Lance looked appalled. "I'll have you know I am an excellent reader," he paused for a moment. "Just not in English."

"Is Spanish your first language?" Keith guessed, and Lance nodded.

"I haven't really needed English much. I only learned it when I first started to try to become a pirate, and my family took it upon themselves to try and learn it as well. Probably to make things easier for me." Lance flicked at his earring as he thought back to being fourteen years old again and stuttering through the simplest of sentences in English.

Keith sat in silence for a few moments before speaking up again. "My first language is Korean," he confessed.

Lance looked up at him. "Really? That's not the most common language around here."

Keith shrugged. "My parents were both immigrants from Korea, having moved to America when they were expecting me. After my mom left, it was just me and my dad. He only spoke to me in Korean until I was five and starting school. At that point, I had to learn English. After that, my dad died, and I haven't been able to talk to anyone in Korean since so..." He trailed off, and Lance looked at him with a worried expression.

"Can you teach me something in Korean?" Lance asked, and Keith looked at him weirdly.

"You want... to learn something in Korean." Keith sounded surprised.

"Yeah!" Lance confirmed. "Go ahead. Teach me anything."

"Okay," Keith said, a sly smile spreading across his face. "나는 바보입니다."

"나는 바보입니다?" Lance repeated hesitantly. "Did I say it right?"

Keith chuckled. "You said it perfectly."

"What does it mean?" Lance asked, but Keith kept laughing. "Keith? What does it mean, Keith?" Keith started to laugh harder and Lance was concerned. "Keith, why are you laughing? Keith? What did you make me say?" Keith was about to fall out of his chair and Lance was becoming increasingly worried about what the hell Keith had tricked him into saying. It was only after Keith had calmed down that he told Lance he made him say "I am an idiot" and Lance was having none of that.

The two engaged in a chase around the house, Lance screaming about how childish Keith was, until Lance had Keith cornered and Keith, in order to defend himself from his boyfriend, grabbed a newspaper from the counter and held it out in front of him as a shield. To his surprise, Lance stopped. He reached out and took the newspaper from his boyfriend and read a part of it. "I know where my family is."

~

The cemetery was just as friendly as always with rotting gravestones and the knowledge that you were walking over a bunch of dead bodies. After reading Lance's obituary and getting the location of his funeral which had been going on at that moment, the two had rushed out of the house and to the cemetery where they eventually found Lance's family, the crew of Voltron, and some other family friends gathered around two presumably empty coffins.

There was a pastor talking up at the front who froze when he saw the two approaching. The others looked confused, but froze as well when Lance spoke up. "You know, I've always wanted to crash my own funeral. I just thought it wouldn't happen."

The McClains had been ecstatic to see their missing family member alive and well. They all ran over each other getting out of their seats to go hug him. A few of them had embraced Keith as well, who looked slightly uncomfortable, but went with it anyway.

Pidge and Hunk had also run into their arms, Shiro not far behind. Lance noticed a few tears fall down his cheeks as he held onto his little brother.

One thing was for sure, it was good to be back.

~

One month later, they were boarding Voltron again. It had been away since Lance and Keith had sailed the seas on the boat that had become their home, but it was still as exhilarating as ever. Lance had taken his time saying his goodbyes to his family. They were a bit hesitant to see him go again after that scare, but they trusted their son and his boyfriend. 

Speaking of his boyfriend, his family had practically flipped when they found out they were dating. Lance had never dated anyone before. Sure, he used to sleep around some with guys and girls all the same, but he had never committed himself to a long-term relationship.

Pidge had said that it was obvious that they liked each other when they told her, and Hunk had immediately wrapped both of them up in a hug. Shiro, on the other hand, gave Lance his approval and said that he was happy for them both, even if they did get flustered at the thought of marriage.

Lance watched as the shore of Varadero disappeared across the horizon. The sea breeze was softly blowing against his dark hair, and he could smell the salt from the water. He could hear Blue flying around and squawking happily at the sight of the ocean. It had been a while since he'd been here. It was nice to be back.

Keith walked up next to him and rested his head on his boyfriend's shoulder. "You scared?"

Lance snorted. "Of course not."

Keith chuckled and looked up at the taller man. "Let's just hope we don't get stuck on another island anytime soon."

Lance smirked. "I'll stick you in an island."

Keith laughed a nice, genuine laugh. "That still doesn't make sense."

"I never do," Lance said, and the two shared a sweet, chaste kiss before returning their attention to the fading horizon. They were finally back and together, and they couldn't be happier.

Yo ho, yo ho. It's a pirate's life for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I actually completed a multi-chapter fic for once. I am proud of myself.
> 
> I hoped you guys enjoyed this short thing I created.
> 
> Have a good rest of your day (or night)!


End file.
